AH64ID

It's part of the break-in procedure cam. They want the initial 5 minutes at 1200-1500 rpms to ensure that the cam hardens, and then recheck the valve lash. Not enough oil pressure or rpms can kill a cam right away so it is quite important. Typically additional ZDDP is also recommended, especially if the break-in will be done on CJ oil. I ran Hamilton's ZDDP additive on my initial oil change and ZDDP Plus on my 3 Delo changes. When I went back to my regular Amsoil CI 4+ AME I stopped using the ZDDP additive.

Sweet.. guessing your doing the quick leak check, oil pressure check, and off to the races for the cam break-in.

The post injection should be off on all SJR tunes. If you want to do UDC yourself all you need is a MAIN dongle. If you want to have someone tune for you it takes a MAIN and a VIN dongle plus a tune fee. The company I tune for sells all 3 for $600... for reference and not advertising. Yes I like the way Tom does business. Have you tried a different timing level for you smoke trail? Say TM3?

Not in the least. First it's a low number and 2nd it's a new engine where iron is always a little higher. I wouldn't ever even raise an eyebrow at 39. All engines wear and the #1 component is iron. Even thou it is higher than other wear metals it is still considered normal. Amsoil typically tests high on copper, not iron that I am aware of, and it's typically due to additional oil cooler leeching. It is generally only isolated to the first time the oil gets hot from towing. For some that is on the first change and others it takes a while. Since my oil cooler has 85K miles with Amsoil the leeching has long since occurred. Iron almost always seems higher with OAI than Blackstone but I am not sure if that means anything.

Nothing was done to the comp wheel. I don't think it is needed on the HE351 as the turbine is the restriction over the compressor. Even with an upgraded turbine I think the housing is more of a restriction than the compressor. Last I spoke with Tom he didn't have flow sheets for the billet wheel but maybe that has changed. The only way it would be worth it, IMHO, for a tow rig was if the compressor was more effecient and produced the airflow with less heat. Just because you add bigger injectors doesn't mean you need to add the power. I run ~90hp injectors and my power is the same as it was with the stock injectors thanks to custom tuning. I wanted bigger injectors to cut duration and require less timing but get a quicker and more efficient burn. I am doing the same thing on my dads 06 with the ~90hp injectors and he makes a bit less power than I do. Very little timing is required and the motor is more effective. So it all depends on what you want to do. If you want the power of the SJR and 50's then towing performance will be limited or a properly sized turbo for the fuel will not tow as well unless you go twins. This is why desired, and actual, use are very important in tuning/turbo/injector selection. From the one person I know with that Tater combo it will not tow well with any decent trailer and that was with a manual trans so the auto could be worse. EFI Live is not an option for you as it only works on 06+ trucks. I like my Garrett BB but as you said they are no longer in production and last I heard Tom was out. So you must think about how you plan to use the truck. I suspect you will have zero issues at that elevation unless its a 7%+ grade and above 100°F.

For those that don't know or recall the specs of the engine they are in the link in my sig.. BLUF: 7730 miles and 600 gallons which means an average mpg of 12.88. Simply put those where not the easiest miles one could put their truck thru. 3636.8 miles of towing (47%) where at least 2500 were above 18K GCW and nearly all of those where in/around the Idaho Mountains. Average speed was 29mph and at least 300-400 of the miles where towing on slow dirt roads with grades well over 10% in places. I also have approx 40% more power than stock and ~90hp injectors. Oil is Amsoil AME with a Donaldson ELF7349, 15um. and an Amsoil EaBP-110, 2um, bypass. My OEM motor never had less than 1.6% soot and that was with the same power but smaller injectors. Yet another reason I am not a fan of the 325 pistons. I have to say I am quite impressed. The Moly and Magnesium are leftover additives from the Delo 400LE used for the first 3 oil changes. If those had not been "flagged" the Severity level would have been 0.

Depending on the terrain/elevation you are at it will probably run very well and stay away from excessive EGT's. As I mentioned it took grades and elevation on a hot day but it would get HOT if I let it.

My 0.02 is that ~375-425 rwhp is a great number. It is fast when empty and pulls a hell of a load when towing. I am ~400 rwhp and can drag 20K GCW up a 7% grade, up to 7K feet, at 55 in 5th... so I am not sure more power is needed. So that being said I think that the OEM turbo has the compressor capable of that but is lacking on the exhaust side and would consider a modded HE351 on the turbine side only. Why increase both compressor and turbine when you don't have to... it also means more air thru both and you are back to having drive pressure issues as you can only open the housing so much. The modded HE351 on my dad's 06 is an awesome towing turbo, thou it doesn't have a DP gauge. It run less boost and lower EGT's across the board which means the restriction in the turbine has been greatly reduced since the compressor section is the same. More air and less restriction is good!! My GT3782R does better between 80-100% load, and I have about 50 more rwhp, but his does better at lower loads rpms. So that being said I would highly suggest the modded HE351, modded/rebuilt, by Turbo Re-Source and when you get 50hp injectors I also suggest UDC to really dial them in for towing. There isn't a box tune out there that gives you the proper fuel/timing for towing with larger injectors. As far as the Tater stuff he has a good name for street/strip but he is still experimenting with his towing setups (last I heard) and it's a different breed of need. I know a guy who has been thru 2 or 3 different Tater combos trying to find one that works for towing. Tater seems like a good guy, but the modded HE351 on the turbine side has shown more promise. Having used SW1 and SW2 with gauges on my 05 when the motor was stock I would not have towed with either at any elevation above 2500' without gauges. I know what MADS claims and I don't think they did much testing at elevation. Towing 5K on SW2 at 4K feet on a 95° day could fairly easily get the EGTs out of control (1400°+) with pedal to spare.

That wiring is beautiful!!!

But not nearly as much as a vehicle. I've been around maritime ops a little bit as well and even delivered fish to some of those deadliest catch boats in the off season from crab. For a given engine rpm the load varies only by a small percentage but it can still vary. ±10% variance is a lot different than 0-100-0-100-0 thru rolling hills on a heavily loaded vehicle.

All trucks should use the same filter. I wouldn't go with the standard filter as they don't off near the micron rating of better filters. For wix use the 57620XE. The 51607 is the older style filter and is still for sale but has been superseded by the 57620, and the XE is the higher eff The best filter on the market is a Donaldson Blue BDL7349.

I would start with an alignment and make sure they check your ball joints. My 1st guess is going to be ball joints.

Yes and no. The guy with the throttle control doesn't have gears or the ability to lug unless they are changing the pitch/prop. A prop at x rpm will always take the same ± power once rpms have stabilized.

The other advantage that marine engines have over vehicle engines is constant load/rpm. If a boat engine is at 2000 rpms the load will almost always be the exact same regardless of boat speed, etc. Additionally a boat engine should have the prop/generator/jet tuned so that peak hp and peak rpms are always at rated rpm.. meaning that at 2000 rpms the engine is not at 100% load based on prop demand. A pickup engine can sit at 2000 rpms all day and go from 0% load to 100% load and back to 0% in a matter of seconds or just look at load while going thru rolling hills. The use is just so much harder on an engine in a vehicle than a boat. A good example is the hp vs prop demand chart from the QSB 480 spec sheet. As you can see the prop should only draw about 80hp at 2000 rpms but the engine is capable of 356. Look at the requirements at the bottom. One could not achieve rated rpms at full throttle if the prop demanded WOT at 2000 rpms (think back to the hp vs torque thread).

How is it running now?

Yes it does, but with modern oils soot is even harder to filter out. A lot has to do with engine design. My latest UOA was <0.1% soot but that is with the 03-04 piston bowl. The lowest I ever saw on the 05 pistons, at 7,500 miles, was 1.6% and the lowest ever was 0.9% at 5600 miles.

Yes the BIG girdles are needed at 800+, but there has to be a reason Cummins put them down in the 325hp range???? Just thinking out loud and am not sure what, if any, difference it will make for you. The big difference at moderate power is you just cannot make that power continuously, even towing, so the strain is short lived.

My motor was painted with flat high temp engine black paint. If it where leaking it would not be impossible to spot it on. It starts out shiny but after a few heat cycles is dull and drops of oil and fuel show up on it easily while servicing and spilling. I am not sure if it started with the 03 HPCR or the 04.5 HPCR but HPCR's have them from Cummins now too. The girdle isn't nearly as stiff as the big racing ones but it is a girdle none the less. EDIT: I just looked it up and the OEM stiffener on my 05 is the same one as used on the QSB5.9-480 marine engine. Anyone have a ESN from a VP44 marine engine?

I If he is doing the full kit I would highly caution your public discussion and demonstration of such, especially as you are doing it as a job. There is a reason most shops will not discuss or sell those kits via the phone/internet. Just my 0.02

The ones I have seen just secure them up out of the way with the sensors unplugged.

I have one on my 05 manual transmission and it works fine. Some bigger cups in the left holder will hit my pistol grip shifter. I am not sure if it would work with a G56 thou, as the shifter seems much shorter and further aft. My mom wants my dad to put a pistol grip shifter in his 06 but we don't think it would work.

The Bf1212 is a spin on filter that would need another base, but worth it. The PF7977 goes in the OEM canister. Both are made by Baldwin.

Oh sorry, thought I had responded. The filter on that FASS is a P553203 which is the Donaldson cross for the 3um Racor filter. It's a great f/w sep and final filter. I would still run it thru the OEM canister with a PF7977 thou. If you where really ambitious I would put a BF1212 before the FASS instead of the strainer you listed.

Run a PF7977 as a a clean filter is not restrictive and clean fuel is good! He should still verify he has the proper pressure and if he doesn't it will not be because of the filter, unless it is plugged.

UOA gets mine back very quick as well. There is another thread on here about it so I won't go into detail (derail last time) but blackstone will not ever get my business again as I was less than impressed with them. The potassium is low I would re-sample at 7500 and see. If it comes back good push to 10K and change it. My standard routine is to sample at 7500 and if it all looks good run it to 1 year which is about 10-12K.